Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/719523
I'vefinallyfiguredoutwhatDonaldTrump's main problem is. No jokes, please. It's because at his core he's an entertainer who's looking for applause, not a politician who's looking for votes. Applausemakesyoufeel good on stage at the Improv or at the end of a Broadway play. But it doesn't get you elected. If Trump really wants to save what's left of Western Civilization from four years of President Hillary Clinton, he's got to learn how to get his message out to more voters. When he gives his big pol- icy speeches, he does fine. The addresses he delivered recently about fighting ter- rorism and fixing the econ- omy were generally good. They'd make good stump speeches and he should shorten them to twenty min- utes and repeat at least one of them every day. But the most impor- tant thing about those care- ful, joke-free teleprompter speeches wasn't what Trump said or even how he said it. It was that he was speaking to the whole country, not just the people in the auditorium. He wasn't seeking the in- stant approval of the audi- ence with his "Crooked Hill- ary" shtick or promises to build a border wall and make Mexico pay for it. In those two serious pol- icy speeches Trump did what my father did in Berlin in 1987 at the Brandenburg Gate, when he told Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall." My father wasn't merely speaking to the huge crowd in front of him, he was speaking beyond them to all the people on the other side of the Berlin Wall who were not free. Trump has to start speak- ing to a wider, broader, larger audience — the independents and Republicans that he's got to get to vote for him. He needs to do it every day. He can't slip back to de- livering his applause lines. We've heard those jokes. We'll soon see whether Trump's new team of Kelly- anne Conway and Steve Ban- non can make a difference in his behavior or focus. Conway is a pro who knows what she's doing. But you can hire the best people on the planet and it won't help if you don't listen to them. While Team Trump is in a hiring mood, how about find- ing someone who actually knows how to stage a cam- paign speech? When Trump was in Wis- consin earlier this week talk- ing about the economy and how the Democrat Party has failed and betrayed black people, I don't think I saw a single black person. It was incredibly amateur- ish stagecraft. It'd be like giving an impor- tant policy speech about the plight of out-of-work coal min- ers to an audience of nuns or guys in three-piece suits. I realize Trump isn't ex- actly surrounded by black supporters. And I know the part of Wisconsin he was in was 95 percent white. But couldn't someone in his campaign have found fifty black people to be in the crowd so the media couldn't react in the knee-jerk way they did? My father's media genius, the late deputy chief of staff Michael Deaver, would have had a thousand blacks in that audience even if he had had to pay them to be there. Trump has to do a lot more learnin' and a lot more hirin'. And if he doesn't do it real soon he'll be back run- ning his business empire, living a quiet life in Trump Tower and getting in almost as many rounds of golf each week as President Obama. MichaelReaganisthesonof President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St. Martin's Press). Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com. Follow @reaganworld on Twitter. MichaelReagan Trump needs more votes, less applause Cartoonist's take The Daily News reports there is work in progress to clean up the old "fire dump" located on the corner of Wal- bridge and Baker Road. In my day it was just "the dump," not the fire dump. It was situated in those days on the west edge of our fair city and we went there to dispose of our un- wanted trash. There were professional gar- bage collectors that also used this site. One such was Fred Foley, and he was a poet. In the classified section of the Daily News could be found his poems which were invariably related to his work. They were his per- sonal advertisements in the sense that he thanked city folks for the privilege of collecting their gar- bage, which may have encour- aged them to remember Fred at Christmas time. I wish I could remember some of his rhyming couplets. As I re- call they were quite good. Maybe the archives of our Tehama County Library could help me out on this. If so I would lay off discussing the costs of renovation of the former Daily News build- ing on Diamond for the library. Speaking of the dump in my day, it was crisscrossed with dirt roads running through it for the convenience of those wanting to unload their pickups and trailers, and over time they eroded into a series of roller coaster rides. Therefore, late at night, with little else to do in our small town, we might convince a car owner to let us pile in and experience a rough ride through the dump. It may have been hard on their car's suspension sys- tem, but no one complained. Of course it didn't take much to amuse us in those days. ••• We are sad to see Norm and Beverly Pierro retire from the printing business. As I recall we participated in the sale of the business many years ago when it was called "Sir Speedy" and op- erated by Hank Denherder. At that time, their competition was Omar Keene and Hornbeck's, but only Norm and Beverly survived. ••• A police log report: "A resi- dent on Thomes Ave called 911 to ask for the time of day. The caller was properly admon- ished for doing so." I have made stupid mistakes over the course of my long life, but this was not one of them. A Trump supporter might, but not a rational person. ••• We speak of folks losing their hair from time to time, but I think a report in this paper of a "bald man yelling at passing traffic at 8 a.m. last Thursday" was over the top. I mean, state his name or perhaps his dress, but his lack of hair is his busi- ness. Maybe that's what he was yelling about. ••• CBS News' Sopan Deb: "For the 1st time — in prepared re- marks, Trump expressed re- gret for some of his campaign conduct." And the Washington Examiner's Byron York wrote, "That was new Trump. Very new Trump." However, the New Yorker states, "The truth, of course, is that there is no 'new Trump.' But the old one can read the polls, and he knows that he's on a path toward a heavy and ignominious defeat. That's why he effectively fired his cam- paign manager, Paul Manafort, and brought in a new team. That's why he's belatedly reaching out to the black com- munity, where, according to one survey, he's polling at one percent. And that's why he's making a renewed attempt to mimic Richard Nixon and posi- tion himself as the voice of for- gotten Americans." There is ap- parently no end to the clueless Trump's remarks. ••• Are you ready for some foot- ball? "Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble the football" — John Heisman "When you win, nothing hurts" — Joe Namath, Alabama "A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall" — Frank Leahy, Notre Dame "In Alabama, an atheist is someone who doesn't believe in Bear Bryant" — Wally Butts, Georgia "My advice to defensive players is to take the shortest route to the ball, and arrive in a bad humor" — Bowden Wy- att, Tennessee "I asked Darrell Royal, the coach of the Texas Longhorns, why he didn't recruit me. He said, 'Well, Walt, we took a look at you, and you weren't any good.'" — Walt Garrison, Oklahoma State "Football is not a contact sport, it is a collision sport. Dancing is a contact sport" — Duffy Daugherty, Michigan State "I've found that prayers work best when you have big players" — Knute Rockne, Notre Dame Ohio State's Urban Meyer on one of his players: "He doesn't know the meaning of the word fear. In fact, I just saw his grades and he doesn't know the meaning of a lot of words." What do you say to a Flor- ida State University foot- ball player dressed in a three- piece suit? "Will the defendant please rise." How can you tell if a Ken- tucky football player has a girlfriend? There's tobacco juice on both sides of the pickup truck. ••• Our teacher asked what my favorite animal was, and I said, "fried chicken." She said I wasn't funny, but my parents told me to al- ways tell the truth. I did. Fried chicken is my favorite animal. Anyway, my teacher sent me to the principal's office. I told him what happened, and he laughed, but told me not to do it again. The next day in class my teacher asked me what my fa- vorite live animal was and I told her it was chicken. She asked me why, so I told her it was be- cause you could make them into fried chicken. She sent me back to the principal's office. He laughed, but told me not to do it again. Today, my teacher asked me to tell her what famous mili- tary person I admired most. I told her, "Colonel Sanders." Guess where the heck I am now. Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff, former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and author of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmurray@ hotmail.com. I say Nights, coasters and the dump back in the days When Trump was in Wisconsin earlier this week talking about the economy and how the Democrat Party has failed and betrayed black people, I don't think I saw a single black person. Sounding off Alookatwhatreadersaresayingincommentsonourwebsiteandonsocialmedia. Bravo!Evenincaseswheretheabuserisa mentally ill person, it still does not excuse the behavior. For over 50years, there have been medications that clear psychosis. The most common problem is, those afflicted with it o en refuse to stay on their medication. In other words, they choose to devolve into disorganization and chaos. Ann Minch: On a column about preventing animal abuse through awareness In spite of various studies, all using different methods of evaluation, that conclude that bark beetles are not a driving force in wildfire, the Forest Service continues to promote the idea that logging beetle-killed trees will reduce future fires. Brien Brennan: On Mendocino National Forest's Four Beetles Project Greg Stevens, Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 728Main St., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS StateandNational Assemblyman James Galla- gher, 2060 Talbert Drive, Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 895-4217, http://ad03.asmrc.org/ Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634 Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator. nielsen@senate.ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capital Building, Sacramento 95814, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558-3160, governor@governor. ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug La- Malfa, 507 Cannon House Of- fice Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Fein- stein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415 393- 0707, fax 415 393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, 1700 Montgomery St., San Fran- cisco 94111, 510 286-8537, fax 202 224-0454 Local Tehama County Supervisors, 527-4655 District 1, Steve Chamblin, Ext. 3015 District 2, Candy Carlson, Ext. 3014 District 3, Dennis Garton, Ext. 3017 District 4, Bob Williams, Ext. 3018 District 5, Burt Bundy, Ext. 3016 Red Bluff City Manager, Rich- ard Crabtree, 527-2605, Ext. 3061 Corning City Manager, Kristina Miller, 824-7033 Your officials By Michael Reagan Robert Minch OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, August 26, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4